Having Fun With Paper, Ink, and Stamps

Category Archives: Christmas

The “12 Weeks of Christmas” is a series of emails I send out to my mailing list subscribers annually. It is my gift to them for being on my list and receiving my emails about Stampin’ Up! news and offers plus projects to make complete with directions.

The holiday emails are much the same, with one holiday project each week and the complete tutorial. It’s really fun if you love ideas, and I do!! I hope you will join us!

The only way you can receive these emails is to be on my Stamping With Karen Mailing List! Sign up on my blog at www.KarenStamps.com or right here in the Sign Up box below! Week One has already gone out, but get in on the other 11 weeks right now! Next issue at 1:00 pm Wednesday, October 11th. Don’t miss it!

I wanted to make a quick and easy Christmas card with the Be Merry Designer Series Paper, and as I went along I realized I had several tips to share with you. I like this Be Merry Paper. It seems like a traditional, nice little unassuming Christmas paper that will do the job! It’s mixed in with all the designer papers in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalogon page 188 so you might have overlooked it. When the catalog came out, none of us were thinking about Christmas just as summer was coming on. If you like this paper (and some of the patterns can be used any time of year, not just the holidays) take advantage of the Designer Series Paper Buy 3 Get 1 Free Sale going on right now!

Back to the card. The card base is Cherry Cobbler, cut at 11″ x 4 1/4″ so the fold will be at the top. The patterned paper is cut at 5 1/2″ x 3 3/4″. The greeting from the Labels to Love Stamp Set is stamped on Whisper White with Cherry Cobbler ink and punched with the Everyday Label Punch.

Tip #1: I was catching the edge of the greeting stamp every time when I stamped, so I just trimmed the rubber around the words carefully, like we used to have to do in the “olden days” with our little Craft & Rubber Scissors or whatever they were called. Just be careful you don’t cut into the image. I don’t normally do this but this stamp just seemed to have quite a large border around the edge, and since I was having trouble stamping, I just trimmed it.

Tip #2: Somewhere online I saw something about using the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch as a layer for the Everyday Label Punch. I didn’t even find out about all the details, but I thought I would try it today. I cut a piece of Cherry Cobbler Cardstock 2″ wide and punched one end, then estimated where I wanted the other end, cut it, then punched that opposite end. You can see that tag in my first photo. It’s not an exact match with the Everyday Label Punch but the curved ends so match up nicely and I think it provides an easy way to layer this punched piece!

Next I wondered how to use the Cherry Cobbler 1/4″ Double-Stitched Ribbon. I’d already glued down the patterned paper onto the card front, so I would have had to wrap the ribbon around the inside of the card, which would be okay. But then I got the idea to punch a hole in each end of the greeting and just tie some ribbon through those holes. Then the greeting is popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Really, if you have the materials and tools handy, this card takes no more than a couple minutes to make! And there are other variations you could try as well!

Designer Series Paper Buy 3 Get 1 Free Special Offer

Click to Read!

Stock up on some of your favorite designer series papers during the month of October! ONLY THESE SELECT PAPERS ARE INCLUDED IN THE OFFER! Purchase 3 packages of paper and THEN choose the 4th package that you want to get FREE. When entering your order, enter the 3 packages you want to pay for and then the 4th package will come up as $0.00. In other words, don’t order the more expensive one first and expect to get that free.

WORLD CARD MAKING DAY SPECIAL OFFERS

Check out the flyer for World Card Making Day with select stamp sets and Note Cards & Envelopes on sale for 15% off just for the first 10 days of October! These stamp sets coordinate with the designer series papers offered for sale. Note that Fast Fuse is no longer available on this sale, but will be offered again when Stampin’ Up! replenishes their stock. It sold out faster than they ever could have predicted!

It’s time to stock up on the Clear Tiny Treat Boxesfor making something like my Christmas Tiny Treat Box or treat boxes for any other occasion. They are very easy to decorate and fill with candy or a small gift.

These little boxes are really handy to have. They are small and come flat so storage is no problem. Just pull off the plastic protecting their surface and assemble. Be sure to crease the score lines well on the boxes. I usually fold back and forth where I can to get a good crease. That makes for a “sharper” box.

Decorate the Tiny Treat Boxes any way you like! For Christmas, like the box above, you might easily wrap some Christmas designer paper around the outside around the sides. Another variation might be to wrap the paper from top to bottom, covering the lid and decorating that way. After wrapping the Be Merry Designer Series Paperaround the outside of the box, I also wrapped a piece of Cherry Cobbler 1/4″ Double-Stitched Ribbonaround the the middle and simply tied in a knot, You really can’t decorate a small gift box quicker and easier than this! And if you wanted to, you could embellish way more than this!

If the gift or treat or favor is for a birthday, of course just wrap with birthday or generic paper, tie on some ribbon, maybe add a greeting or an embellishment or tag, and you have something quick and ready to go for the recipient.

Here are some Halloween Tiny Treat Boxes With Spooky Cat in THIS POSTthat I made in August to get ready for Halloween. Just think of the possibilities! You get 16 boxes that are food safe, 2″ x 2″ x 2″ and only cost $7.50. Good to order some and keep on hand, even if you don’t have a specific occasion in mind at the time. They will be useful for lots of things.

Want to receive an exclusive holiday projects each week in your email?

It’s just over 24 hours until the first email will go out! The only people who will get these amazing projects from me are the people on my mailing list. In order for you to get them, you must be on my mailing list by October 4 at 1:00 pm. You will see holiday cards, gifts and wrapping ideas! It’s really fun and is my annual gift to my subscribers! I hope you will join us! It’s FREE. And you get a separate free gift just for signing up to my mailing list. Just complete the form below with your name and email and you will be ready to go!

If you are already a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, you don’t have to do anything! You will get these two kits in October and November like usual!

If you join Paper Pumpkin now you will receive the October kit and continue receiving kits every month unless you skip a month or cancel your subscription by the 10th of any month.

If you tried Paper Pumpkin before, back in the beginning, but were disappointed in the early kits, I strongly urge you to give it another try! Paper Pumpkin has done nothing but improve greatly over the years! They’ve got it going on now!!

Watch Carrie from the Home Office talk about these special holiday coordinating kits!

Here is an example of a Paper Pumpkin Kit! This is the current kit for September 2017! Very pretty!

They say “presentation is everything” and that was true yesterday when I opened a box of skincare products I had ordered! I was probably more excited about the packaging than the products! Within the mailing box was a blue gift box and inside lots of that “shred” with my products plus a very nice kraft box (like you get jewelry in) filled with samples with the company name embossed in gold on the top. I knew I was going to save it in case i needed it for a gift, especially at Christmas.

Today, I looked at that box and thought, I might as well decorate it in a quick and easy way and it will be ready to go for the holidays and really won’t need any other giftwrapping. Consider looking for gift boxes like these I know you have around your house and get some ready for Christmas or a birthday or any occasion!

Even though I made this into a Christmas box, I used the fallish paper, Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper, but I used a side that just has green stripes and could be used for any project. Nothing seasonal about it. I layered it on a piece of coordinating Garden Green Cardstock. I used the Gold 3/8″ Metallic-Edge Ribbon, which is a beautiful ribbon with that gold edge. I tied that around, laid on pieces of the Mini Tinsel Trim in Redand the Gold Mini Sequin Trim, made a knot,and then tied a bow. Actually, it looked pretty enough with just the knot and the trim pieces. So if you feel you are not good at bows, just tie a nice knot!

The tag is stamped in Real Red Ink from the Merry Little Labels Bundle. With the Bundle, you get the stamp set and the coordinating Everyday Label Punch. You’ll want this punch to make this nicely shaped tag. Might as well save 10% on the Bundle if you like the stamp set! To layer the tag on a piece of Real Red Cardstock punched with the Everyday Label Punch, I just trimmed down the Very Vanilla stamped piece, even though I cut off the cut little design at the top and bottom of the tag. That makes it fit on the layer, and then I added two round gold Metallic Enamel Shapes.

All in all, it took just a few minutes to make this quick and easy decorated gift box!

(Don’t order any designer paper until Sunday! Just sayin’!)

But when you are ready to order some stamping and papercrafting supplies, just go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store and shop! It’s easy to set up an account and then you are ready to go any time you want to order! It’s time to get started on those holiday craft projects and cards!

And if you need ideas, you will want to sign up for my Stamping With Karen Mailing List! Beginning next week, I will be sending out a special email every week with a new holiday project and tutorial and the only way you will be able to receive this is to be on my mailing list! This is a special gift to my wonderful subscribers that I love doing every year! (If you are already on my mailing list, no need to do anything, you will receive the holiday emails, too!)

Sign up for my Mailing LIst HERE to receive the “12 Weeks of Christmas” Emails! Sign up before Wednesday, October 4 at 1:00 pm in order to receive the first issue. You don’t want to miss out! I have that email and project ready to go! It’s just waiting for your name and email to be included!!

Our annual “12 Weeks of Christmas” campaign begins October 4, 2017!

Can you believe it??!

During this campaign, each week you are going to receive a different free project tutorial via email for the holidays! You’re going to receive ideas for cards, gifts, bags & tags over the twelve weeks leading up to Christmas. We’ll start with card ideas. It’s going to be so much fun!

The only people, however, who will get these amazing gifts from me are people on my Mailing LIst. So in order for YOU to get these holiday emails, you must be on my mailing list by Wednesday, October 4th at 1:00 PM Central Time. If you’re not, you’ll miss out!

Don’t miss out! We want you to be a part of this! To sign up for my Stamping With Karen Mailing List, here’s how to do it………..

You should see a sign up box at the bottom of this post. Sign up there!

OR Look for the red box in the upper right corner of my blog and sign up with your name and email! That’s it!

Remember, you have to be on my Mailing List in order to receive these special “12 Weeks of Christmas” emails each Wednesday, beginning next week October 4th. These are a special gift for my mailing list subscribers who already receive my weekly emails with Stampin’ Up! news and project ideas. We’d love to have you join us!

You have just one week before we start our annual “12 Weeks of Christmas” campaign! Can you believe it??!

During this campaign, each week you are going to receive a different free project tutorial via email for the holidays! You’re going to receive ideas for cards, gifts, bags & tags over the twelve weeks leading up to Christmas. We’ll start with card ideas. It’s going to be so much fun!

The only people, however, who will get these amazing gifts from me are people on my Mailing LIst. So in order for YOU to get these holiday emails, you must be on my mailing list by Wednesday, October 4th at 1:00 PM Central Time. If you’re not, you’ll miss out!

Don’t miss out! We want you to be a part of this! To sign up for my Stamping With Karen Mailing List, here’s how to do it………..

You should see a red sign up box at the bottom of this post. Sign up there!

OR Look for the red box in the upper right corner of my blog and sign up with your name and email! That’s it!

Remember, you have to be on my Mailing List in order to receive these special “12 Weeks of Christmas” emails each Wednesday, beginning next week October 4th. These are a special gift for my mailing list subscribers who already receive my weekly emails with Stampin’ Up! news and project ideas. We’d love to have you join us!

Can you believe TWO exciting, holiday-themed kits in a row?! That will be the October and November Paper Pumpkin Kits! The way to receive BOTH of them is to subscribe to Paper Pumpkin by October 10th! Each kit stands alone, but I’m sure you will want to have both!

These Season of Style Paper Pumpkin Kits are designed for EVERYONE so you don’t have to worry if you are not already a crafter or if you think you are not artistic! This is the perfect, fun time to try Paper Pumpkin when we all need as many holiday cards and gifting items as possible! Order more than one kit and give one as a gift or invite several friends to order, and you can all get together and work on your kits!

Are you someone who always plans to make time for Christmas crafting but somehow you never get it done? Stampin’ Up! makes it easy for those happy holiday dreams to come true with October and November’s back-to-back coordinating kits. They include everything you will need to quickly and easily make two full kits of merry and bright Christmas projects—without having to set aside a huge block of time.

Whether we want to believe it or not, Christmas is coming soon! We always want stamping and papercrafting ideas for the holidays, the more the better! Every year I send out a weekly email leading up to Christmas with one project idea and complete instructions and supply list to my mailing list subscribers. This is an “extra” for my subscribers and only they will receive these projects. They won’t be on my blog or social media. I love doing this for them!

We usually begin with card ideas for the first several weeks, then move on to gift ideas and closer to the “last minute”, gift bag ideas, tags and wrapping ideas! Copy them exactly or use them for inspiration to come up with your own ideas….or if you’re like me, just enjoy seeing more ideas! I’m all about the ideas, even if I can’t make everything!

If you would like to receive my upcoming “12 Weeks of Christmas” emails beginning SOON, please join us! Sign up for my Mailing List today! It’s the red box in the upper right corner of my blog! You also get a FREE GIFT available to all subscribers any time, when you sign up.

(If you are on mobile, you might need to scroll down near the end of the blog posts.)

If you are already one of my subscribers, you don’t need to do anything! You will automatically receive my 12 Weeks of Christmas emails when I begin sending them out!

JOIN MY STAMPING WITH KAREN MAILING LIST TODAY!

Keep up with Stampin’ Up! news and offers, get stamping ideas on a regular basis PLUS the 12 Weeks of Christmas special emails! We’d love to have you!

Here’s a quick and easy Christmas card made in the trendy colors of green and black. What do you think? Often there are different colors and combinations of colors that pop up to use for Christmas just to get away from the traditional red and green. Sometimes there are really different colors like pink and light blue or purples, etc. So I think ultimately almost any colors CAN be used and can be very pretty and holiday-like, but maybe are just not what we are used to!

The Stampin’ Up! suite in the new Holiday Catalog is called Merry Little Christmas that has these colors in the designer papers. If you look closely at many of the patterns in the Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paperyou will see that they can be used outside of Christmas. For example, the Basic Black and Old Olive plaid on the card above could be used for birthdays, invitations, masculine cards, and more.

If you need to make a lot of Christmas cards, you might consider just a basic card like this – a card base, a layer of designer paper and a nice die cut greeting! Very quick and easy to make!

Take a look at the Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper! Some of the patterns are more clearly for the holidays, but take a look at the stripes and the plaid, the polka dots and the leaves! Those leaves can be used on spring cards with flowers!

If you are already a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, you don’t have to do anything! You will get these two kits in October and November like usual!

If you join Paper Pumpkin now you will receive the October kit and continue receiving kits every month unless you skip a month or cancel your subscription by the 10th of any month.

If you tried Paper Pumpkin before, back in the beginning, but were disappointed in the early kits, I strongly urge you to give it another try! Paper Pumpkin has done nothing but improve greatly over the years! They’ve got it going on now!!

Watch Carrie from the Home Office talk about these special holiday coordinating kits!

The new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog is LIVE! You can view it online and order from it! Start enjoying all its gorgeousness! It really is time to begin thinking of the holidays and all the cards and projects we want to make.

Summer has ended and now it is almost fall, at least that’s what Labor Day weekend tells us! Here in Houston we still have plenty of hot weather to go, although after the wrath of Hurricane Harvey last weekend, I think we are going to be treated to a little bit cooler weather for a few days. It’s hard to believe a week ago we’d had 3″ of rain with another 32″ to go by Sunday morning. And even as I write this post, people are still being evacuated from places that are still flooding and from places east of Houston where Harvey’s path took it after it hit here. By some grace of God, we are still fine in our home.

That’s why it is so good to have something to help us relax and take our minds off the troubles of the world for a little while. That’s why we say “Stamping is cheaper than therapy!” Of course a lot of stampers and other Demonstrators are still trying to save their stamps and papercrafting supplies from the flood or will have none left when this is all over with. Stampin’ Up! has already stepped up to help some of those people.

Here are some Stampin’ Up! videos for you to enjoy and to get a better feel for some of the products in the Holiday Catalog!

When you look through the catalog, when you see that little “play” arrow near a product description, that means there is a video for that product or suite of products.

If you do not have a Demonstrator and would like a Holiday Catalog, it seems that our mail service is back up so I can send you a complimentary copy. Email me at Karen@KarenStamps.com with your contact information and let me know if you would also like a copy of the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog.

Be sure to order your favorite products as soon as you can as some could go on backorder temporarily as we have seen in the past! If something is backordered when you want to order it, I always think it is best to go ahead and add it to your order anyway rather than wait until the stock is resupplied because Stampin’ Up! will send it out to you as soon as they have it.

To check out some other Stampin’ Up! product videos, look at THIS POST.

The new Stampin’ Up! Holiday 2017 Catalog is LIVE today! Finally the day is here! Can you believe it? Time for stampers and papercrafters to get going to get ready for the holidays!

If you are interested in Stampin’ Up! products and want a Holiday Catalog, email me your contact information at Karen@KarenStamps.com. As of this moment, I don’t know when our regular mail service will be restored after Hurricane Harvey so it might take me until next week to find an open post office and know that it will get out of Houston! The airports opened yesterday so maybe mail will start coming in and out as far as planes are concerned, and by truck as more and more roads completely open up!

And during September and October, Stampin’ Up! has this special Host Promotion! If you have your own large order or gather some orders from friends, if your workshop or order total reaches $300 or more, you will receive this FREE exclusive stamp set, Merry Patterns! This is in addition to your normal Hostess Rewards benefits!